Lesson video

Welcome, my name is Steve and I'm your Computing Teacher.

This Unit is called IT Project Management.

And in Lesson One, we'll be answering the question what is project management? You'll need a notepad and something to write with to take some notes.

It's also really good if you can remove all distractions, make sure you've got a drink.

Make sure you're comfortable and ready to begin.

So in this lesson, you will define the term project management.

Identify why project management is important and select appropriate project management methodologies.

Let's start with task one, Read the scenario on task one on the worksheets and decide how you would lead this project.

Think carefully and there are some prompt questions on the worksheet for you.

Pause this video and complete the task.

So what would you do? Here's a possible solution, a possible idea for you.

The three remaining members of the group first needs to be given some sort of job.

I would probably give one person research.

One person, graphic design.

And one person, the opportunity to write a script, or possibly a musical school.

A timeline for the completion of those tasks should also be produced.

And then if it was me, I'd schedule some meetings then to make sure that everyone is meeting deadlines and hitting those milestones.

The timeline could look something like this.

So lesson one, you decide who is doing what and when for, you create a timeline and everyone starts their individual tasks.

And lesson two, I'd probably start by assessing the progress.

Identifying where the support is needed, and alter the plans to meet their needs.

In lesson three, I'd have a good draught of the animation ready by now.

Look for the issues and note down what is going well, but remember to act on the issues, don't just wait down, find solutions.

And finally have the animation complete by lesson four, and by the end of that lesson, you also want to have received feedback and started to make some key improvements.

So, important question, what is project management? Well, project management is knowing what your goals are.

It's knowing what the skills are in your team and how's best use your team.

Is knowing what timescale is involved with the completion of the project, how long it's going to take you, what's your deadline? It's all about allocating tasks and deadlines to the right members of your team.

If you've got someone in your team who's got a skill in this particular place, use that skill.

So if there's a fly, flying might pass me.

Monitoring the completion of different tasks is also really important and managing your resources.

Let's have a look at different methods though.

The first method is the waterfall methods.

In the waterfall method, a project will flow from start to finish in one direction only.

So it needs a lot of planning in the early stages.

There was a sort of process.

You start by analysing and identifying the user requirements.

What does the user actually want from you? Then you sit and you design, you plan.

Once you've got the planning in place, you implement your plan and you execute the task itself.

Then, once the task is complete, you begin to test it, does what you've created actually work.

And finally you evaluate it by seeking feedback from people, feedback from the user and that gives you an opportunity to learn and grow and change again.

If the requirements of the project are really clear at the start, and it's not likely to need any changes, this is the method most people follow.

This method of project planning began in software development.

For example, antivirus software, you know, you need to get rid of the virus.

You know, you've got to identify certain viruses, the actual individual parts of antivirus software, very clear, or the outcomes are going to be.

Similarly payment, gateways, online shopping platforms, both of those things, absolutely perfect examples.

There are some key advantages.

For example, each state must be perfected before moving on.

The structure of the project is really easy to follow.

This results in a much better end products, there's no confusion.

And because there's lots of planning at the start it's document heavy, which means new workers can easily be bought in to complete it.

However, they've also disadvantages as well, for example, it lacks flexibility.

If something changes, if one of the requirements change, you do need to start again from the very beginning.

And because of that, the project might not be completed on time.

It really relies heavily on those initial stages, the planning stages and identifying these user requirements being correct and accurate.

It's note-taking time.

Complete task two on the worksheet to make notes about the waterfall method, by filling in the gaps, answering questions and competing a table of advantages and disadvantages.

Pause the video and return when you finish.

Method two is the agile method.

In the agile methods of project management, we have the opposite of waterfall methods.

In this one, you can get started with your project really quickly, making regular adjustments when requirements change.

The way it works is that you complete small parts of the project in priority order before quickly moving on to the next one.

And each part of the project is referred to you as a sprint.

It's best use when the end outcome is fixed, but how you get there is not fixed.

And just like the waterfall method, the end outcome is based on the user needs and requirements.

This approach also started in software development.

So when is it used? We plan and design a roadmap map is created a features that make up the finished product.

One of the features has been released as a sprint for the project team to deliver before the next feature is released.

Each team member is then allocated a components of a sprint to compete.

This is visualised so that all team members understand what the others are doing.

One of the possible disadvantages here is they have to be short daily meetings to discuss where each team member is with that task and what we are going to do next.

Because it's not so straightforward, you have to go from start to finish with waterfall, but this one for agile, you can't just go from start to finish.

It does depend on where everyone is and you do need to communicate really well.

The last step normally of each sprint is a test, you test and you share it with the client.

The client will then provide you some feedback.

You might get some notes about changes, and then you keep going round and round until each sprint fully meets what the client requires.

Then you start the next sprint and the cycle starts again.

So advantages, there are no fixed stages or focus on requirements, which means there was plenty of scope of flexibility and creativity.

There was less risk of project failure.

After a lot of opportunities to get feedback from the clients, and there's greater freedom to be creative.

However, the lack of a fixed plan does make resource management tricky and resources include your team members.

Because of this, you do require more meetings and like I mentioned, these meeting can take up valuable time.

For this particular method with each sprint, the client is involved.

So the client does need to be, and willing to be involved, willing to be closely included in what's going on, which means they need to have the time to do that.

Let's do some more note-taking.

Kindly, complete tasks three on the worksheet to make some notes about the agile methods.

Answer the questions, complete the table of advantages and disadvantages, and then return here.

Pause the video, I'll be here when you get back.

Method three, the hybrid method.

This method combines the best of the waterfall and the best of the agile methods.

It starts like the waterfall method by analysing the requirements of the project, but then uses the flexibility of the agile methods.

And it focuses on sprints until the project is complete.

Is normally used to medium sized projects with a fixed budget.

But start of the project is carried out to plenty of detail, just like the waterfall projects.

You gather, the project resources and you select your team with necessary skills so that you know you can complete this project successfully.

It's really good for projects that do need some flexibility.

Planning will be more detailed at the early stage, and there will be a detailed timeline for the complexion of activities but the activities can be prioritised in a sort of logical order and sectioned off as sprints.

Sometimes the client wants to be involved, but maybe they haven't got as much spare time as you want them to have.

that this, it could be that more than one sprint has completed before your client sees what's going on.

The hybrid approach means you can continue without the client's involvement after each sprint.

Testing may take place only on the completion of the projects.

Or it can take place at different stages of sprint completion too.

If the client does have notes, you can repeat the cycle, missing out that first stage of detailed planning.

Again, this particular method started out as a software development management system.

It does have some really good advantages, structured planning at the start means that you can easily manage your resources.

There is also a lot more flexibility past that planning stage, which does allow for creativity when the waterfall method doesn't.

Subtle changes can be made without impacts on the initial requirements.

However, any changes you do make must still comply with that plan's timetable.

It can be difficult to track the progress of deliverables when everyone's working in different sections, which means often you have more paperwork involved so that people can communicate.

Paperwork and meetings often take valuable time away from the actual task in hand.

People mostly get very frustrated with paperwork and really frustrated with meetings, so this method it's worth bearing that in mind.

Time for note-taking.

Complete task four on the worksheet to make notes about the hybrid methods and answer the questions.

Complete the table of advantages and disadvantages.

Pause the video and come back when you're ready.

Our last method today is the critical path method.

This method involves identifying the component parts of a project, assigning a priority to each part.

In other words, what parts have to be completed before you can move on, and which ones don't have to be completed before you can move on.

You then structure the order the project takes place by looking at those parts.

Sometimes there were some bits that can happen alongside others, which makes you more efficient.

You allocate a timeframe for each part of the project so that you know when you hit your target.

Now, unlike the previous three methods, this particular method was originated in skyscraper development, not software development.

It is more likely to be used when a project has essential components that must be completed with other parts that can run alongside.

The advantage of this is efficiency, the requirements of mapping out the time at which an activity will take place does mean you can really effectively deploy all your resources.

Because you're identifying critical and non-critical activities.

Your schedule is much tighter.

And if activity C has to be completed before activity F priority can be given through activity C.

And that means activities D and E can run alongside.

For example, let's just say you want to make an omelette.

If we follow the moose along the top of the screen, that route is the essential part, the critical path.

If we follow the top route, we beat some eggs.

We heat the pan, adding butter or oil when it gets hot.

And then we pour in the beaten eggs and cook for five minutes.

At the end, you get to eat your omelette.

The bottom line, are the things that are not essential to making an omelette, but they can happen alongside.

So adding a seasoning is really important, but if you do add some seasoning into the beaten eggs, its also a good idea, it improves it.

You might want to fry some onions up or some peppers, into the pan so that the flavour goes into the oil.

And when you pour the eggs into the next step, it pours over the veg and it tastes really nice.

This could become ideally a smith moment now.

Next, you might want to put some cheese on top of the beaten eggs, once they've started solidifying, stick it onto a grill maybe and really heat it up.

Maybe put some spring onions on top and a sprinkle or something.

It just makes it much more interesting and much more delicious.

And at the end of course, you still got to eat the omelette.

If I follow the non-critical path, I don't get an omelette.

Seasoning, veg and cheese doesn't make an omelette.

The critical path is at the top of the page.

It does have some disadvantages.

It is really important to have a project management experience, to really successful implement critical path management.

The time taken to perform activities can sometimes be longer than expected, which can derail the project.

Let's say that you're heating the pan with butter and oil.

You add some vegetables in, and then you pour in the beaten eggs.

Maybe those vegetables weren't fully cooked.

Maybe the peppers that you put in were from the freezer.

And that means the eggs take a little bit longer to cook.

Your omelette might be a bit late, meaning you're late for an evening meeting or going out or something or late for lunch.

It can derail things very quickly.

It's important to manage your time.

It's also less flexible because there are key things and you can't move on.

It's a bit like the waterfall methods, just slightly more efficient in your use of time with the secondary activities.

It's note-taking time.

Complete task five on the worksheet to make notes about the critical path methods, defining critical path in your own words, making a simple diagram and then completing the table of advantage and disadvantages.

Pause the video and come back when you're ready.

Finally, what is project management? Well, a quick question, just to give you an idea, we've got the waterfall method, the one that flows from the start to the finish, we have the agile method where you can begin with any part of the project.

We have the hybrid method, which is a combination of the other two.

And the critical path method will be organised tasks into critical and non-critical separate paths.

But which one of these did not originate from software development? You might remember that one of them had a skyscraper link.

I'll give you a few seconds.

Now the answer.

If you chose critical path method, you are absolutely correct.

The critical path method was the one that originated from skyscrapers development, not software development.

Well done for remembering that key fact, if you didn't don't panic, jot it down now.

All will be well.

It will be really good before next session to research a few more, really good management methods that we haven't had time to cover today.

Scrum, critical chain project management and integrated project management, and the last one, PRiSM.

I'll let you work out what those letters stand for yourself in your research.

See if you can spot what the similarities are and the differences.

And if you can work out what some of the advantages are and the disadvantages.

And don't forget, share your work with Oak National, make sure you ask permission first.

Use the hashtag #LearnwithOak or tagging @OakNational.

I'll see you in Lesson Two.